LeBron James on surpassing Michael Jordan: ‘It’s my own personal goal to be greater than great’

“My motivation is this ghost I’m chasing. The ghost played in Chicago.” With that statement, LeBron James has publicly acknowledged his desire to become the greatest NBA player surpassing the legendary Michael Jordan.

James made the statement in an interview with Sports Illustrated where he goes on to say that his career is totally different than Jordan’s and although he is flattered to be mentioned in the same company with the NBA legend, it would be extraordinary if he would be proclaimed as the greatest in league history.

During Monday’s NBA media day, the 2016 NBA champion James elaborated more, telling the Associated Press that even though he has not talked about it publicly, he has always been chasing Michael Jordan.

“It’s a personal goal,” James told The Associated Press on Monday. “I just never brought it up. It’s my own personal goal to be able to be a greater than great. I think that should be everybody’s personal goal.”

“If you work for any company or you work for any designer or anywhere, you’re like, ‘Oh, I aspire to be that guy because he’s done it right.’ He’s the greatest and that’s who you look at,” he said. “So that’s always been my personal goal, to use the motivation he gave me as a kid and I’ll use it as motivation now as well that I want to get to where he is. That’s never changed. People kind of wanted to turn it into a conversation, but that’s my personal goal and that’s where I land at.”

After leading the Cleveland Cavaliers to their first NBA title since 1964, a lot of people are already proclaiming James as the best player of all time. In 2013, aside from Jordan, James is the only player to register a four-season with a player efficiency rating over 30. Although James has half of Jordan’s six championships, there is an argument that, due to his ability to guard all five positions, he may already be the greatest player in league history.

Understandably, James will never make that argument as he is more focused on getting more titles for Cleveland. But seeing how he played during the 2016 NBA Finals, the 31-year-old Cavalier is capable of many more accomplishments.